Water, sewer rates are bubbling up

The City Council Public Works Committee Wednesday night unanimously endorsed increases to the local water and sewer rates.

The 10-cent increase to the water rate and 34-cent increase to the sewer-use fee will bump up the average annual combined water/sewer bill for homeowners by about $30, according to public works officials.

This would mean a yearly total of more than $900.

The rate hikes are subject to approval by the entire council. Because the fiscal 2012 budgets for the DPW’s water and sewer divisions are predicated on the rate increases, they are expected to win council approval.

Otherwise, the budgets for those divisions would have to be cut.

The increases, which take effect July 1, will raise the water rate to $3.25 per 100 cubic feet, or 748 gallons, of water used.

The sewer rate, meanwhile, would go to $5.40 per 748 gallons of water used.

This is the actual sewer cost for residential properties is based on 80 percent of metered water used.

Robert L. Moylan Jr., commissioner of public works and parks, said the rate increases are the minimums necessary to support water and sewer operations and the costs of mandated improvements at the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District sewer treatment plant.

They also are intended to cover costs associated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s impending storm-water permit requirements.